Leafless Tree
by Twin Katanas
Summary: Freya finds her self in the middle of a strange happening. The leafless tree begins to suck energy from the world and she must do her best to stop it. The second chapter is up, and the plot is widening greatly. Go Freya! m
1. In the Middle of a Field

The large bird sped by her with amazing speed. It wings were spread out to it's side and it turned around him multiple times. ...Circling... The feathers of the bird were a light brown, that of which is painted upon the sandy desert where the merchants travel and it's beak looked as hard as the wood of a tree. Freya looked up into the sky while the bird continued to circle around her. Her dragoon helmet hung down over her forehead, pointed, and her red armor covered most of her body. All that was visible were the eyes through the helmet, and some of the hair that hung down. As the wind blew around her, the long strands of grass blew around in the open field. Open field for what seemed to be miles. To the north were the mountains of ice. Even from where she was standing, she could see the coldness of them, and to the south was the forest of the fairie. Never had she traveled there before, or the mountains for that matter. She hadn't traveled much, only on her last journey. Her friends from her previous journey seemed to have disappeared afterwards. Not making contact to people makes things like that happen. The bird sat down on a strange tree with no leaves on it nearby. Without any other sign of trees in the entire field, it was odd that this one was here. The no leaf tree sat there as if staring at Freya, while the only one staring was the eagle. It's eye was fixed on her and it's left eye was an eerie pink color. While the normal eye remained on her, the mysterious pink ball looked around in different directions. Finding all of this mad, Freya stepped back a bit, apalled at what she just saw. She knew that something of the sort wasn't normal.   
  
...Searching...The pink eye was searching around for something, but what that something was wasn't certain. The wings of the bird flattered up and it's claws strapped on to the tree. Quickly the eye turned back to her, and stared at her. Piercing her chest like a knife, it stared and stared, never stopping. A service is what the bird was giving to her, but not a good one. Oh no, definently not a good one. Rays from the sun fell down onto the ground and finally, the bird's eye went white. White as the snow on the northern mountains. Freya now became weary as she gazed into the white eye. Time seemed to stop, and all around her turned dark. All that was left was an eye, a white eye. Growing larger and larger it did, and it suddenly sparked with jolts of electricity. Freya finally snapped out of the trance and held out her lance. Out to her side, she ran to the eye, and placed the lance in a manner so she could easily thrust it into the eye of evil. The end of the pole reached out behind her, and the actual blade it's self was infront, waiting to strike at any given moment. All wind stopped and with one jolt, she aimed right directly torwards the eye. Flying torwards the eye, the blade was held back. By what!? The tree's branch had grown out and it grabbed onto the lance. Wrapped around the pole, the wood tightened and now seemed not at all like wood. Snapped in half, the lance fell to the ground. Moving torwards Freya quickly, the branch hung over her. Blinking in terror, she backed away slowly, hoping not to make any sudden movements.   
  
She couldn't help it though, she turned around and burst out into a jolt. She wasn't sure of where she should go. She was in the middle of a large field, and there was no where to hide. What could she do!? At the speed of her sprint, and over the sound of her footsteps, she heard a low roar in the distance. Then she heard wings, and the roar grew louder, and louder. Finally it was so loud that she couldn't bare it. The sound then stopped and behind her was a large fiend. Large enough to over come the tree. Not sure though, just not sure.   
  
"POWER OF THE DRAGON!" She held out her hand hoping to take control of it, but a voice came out calmly.  
  
"No need." The hair poked up, dark red, and feathered. It was Kuja. A long time enemy, but a friend finally after he saw what it truly meant to exist. He smiled and held his left hand on his waist. He nudged his head back gesturing for Freya to hop onto the dragon. With a nod, Freya ran over to the large silver dragon. The armor of hers made absolutely no noise. That was because the tree started a low rumble underneath the ground. It continued. ...Continued...Now on the dragon, the flew up and hovered above the ground. Each time the wings flapped down, the grass moved around rapidly and wind hit her in the face. Turning around, the dragon flew back in the direction of the leafless tree. Opening it's mouth, a blue beam originated in the dragon's mouth. It grew larger and larger. Soon the entire mouth of the dragon was englufed with the light. It's eyes closed as the blue light was released from it's body. Shooting torwards the tree like a comet preparing to destroy the Earth. It hit the tree, but at the exact moment that it did, the light completely disappeared and was absorbed by another enlarged branch. Enfuriated, the tree's branch shot out torwards the dragon, preparing for an almighty slash. 


	2. Knowledge of Death

Blood fell down from the silver dragon, and it screeched in pain from the slash. Kuja shook his head in awe at what had just happened as the large dragon flapped it's wings greatly turning in the opposite direction. Off to the forest they were. Kuja and Freya both remained silent as blood continued to drip down from the dragon's face. The forest that had lay to the south of them grew closer and closer. With each flap of the mighty beast's wings the description of the forest deepened. The leaves were green, with lighter shades of the apple color in the center of them. Vein like roots moved outwards from the center of the trees, covered deep within the ground by the rich soil of the wood. Throughout all of the woods, they could hear the low sounds of the birds that are native to the forest. Not sure what the name of the forest was, or what lived there, the dragon landed in a small, round open meadow. The same tall grass was in this meadow as the field where the tree was growing and the sun was sitting up directly above them. Watching, waiting, searching. But for what? It was odd. Never had Freya seen the sun in this bizarre state before. The rays of the sun were more of a dim pink, then a bright yellow. What was going on? What was the tree up to? Something, it must be something. Nothing of such great power would live without a porpous. She stood wondering now. Kuja held out his gloved hand and a white dust sprouted from it, showering the dragon's wound. Healing slowly, but surely, the wound was gone in a matter of seconds. Kuja then turned to her and smiled.   
  
"He will be fine. Freya," he paused and looked around, making sure that no other strange monsters were lurking about. "What exactly were you doing in that field? Not many people have roamed about it ever since the tree sprouted." He shook his head in doubt and fear.  
  
"I ... was searching for Alexandria, hoping to find the others. You know? Zidane, Garnet, Vivi.." As she endeavered to continue, Kuja interupted her politely.  
  
"Sorry Freya, but ... I have some bad news." Silence again. The birds had grown quiet and Freya had become stunned with paralysis. " A number of things have happened to most of them. I'm sorry.  
  
" Like what!?"She yelled frantically waiting for his response of misfortune.  
  
" I'll start of with the Amarant. I'm sorry to say, but once we returned, him and Eiko both were found in the meadow dead. They're throats were slit. It was last said that they were on their way to Alexandria. Most people figure that it was the tree, but others say that it could have been thieves." When he took a brief pause, Freya rose her hand to her mouth. Kuja closed his eyes and was wearing the last thing she ever saw him wearing. It was odd, she remembered that, but not much else. She last saw him a few years ago, he was wearing a dark robe and hooded. Strands of red hair fell down over his eyes. His eyes peered out from behind the hair and that was all she could remember. Then, he began once again. " Zidane, and Garnet. They both died as well. No one came to the cause of death on this part. No markings, cuts, signs of suffication. All of this happened about a year ago. All around the same time. I fear that we could be next. Then there is Quina, Vivi, Steiner and Beatrix. They on the other hand are alive and well. But, the others, I am afraid not."  
  
Freya shook her head quickly, hoping that all of this was a dream. The tree ... the image was planted into her head. The roots leading into her soul and taking all knowledge of the present away from her. Stuck in the past, a dream world. What could she do? Absolutely nothing. There was nothing she could do to save her friends. She opened her eyes from her trance while Kuja was shaking her about, hoping for her to come back to the reality.  
  
All around her, silence. Kuja was there before her, staring her directly into the eyes and then there was a noise coming from the other side of the bushes. It was the sound of mages. She had not heard that welcoming sound in ages. A hat poked out from a bush and falling out of the bush, they could see that it was a black mage. The black mage was extremely short, as all black mages were. He was wearing a black vest and underneath it was a black shirt. The vest had silver buttons on it, but was not buttoned. His pants were very baggy, and hung down over most of his shoes. All that could be seen of the shoes was the little point of them. The shoes were brown, and looked similar to those of an elf. His eyes glowed yellow, and he pulled his arms up to his brown hat and moved it around a bit, fixing it after his fall. Widening his eyes as his eyes fell upon Freya and Kuja, he smiled and ran over to them.  
  
"Freya! Kuja!" The two companions looked at the little mage as he ran up to them. The mage must now be at least 15 years of age since the journey. Neither of them had seen him since, all they could remember was the memories, and rumor of him living in some woods. The mage stood before them and waved his gloved hand. With a smile, he bowed down to them in greeting.  
  
"Hello Vivi!" Freya and Kuja said simultaniously. 


	3. Hidden Within a Tree

Vivi smiled brightly, although it was a smile that could not be seen underneath his dark and shadowed face. Light from the sun shined through the trees of the forest, the brilliantly colored trees. The leaves looked odd because of the light that showered them. Around the edges of them were lighter shades of green, like the leaves were sending off a signal. Moonlike eyes observed Freya slowly, not believing that it was truly the person in which they were fixed upon. Freya's brow rose, confused at what Vivi was doing.  
  
"Where did you two come from!?" he asked in an excited tone. He didn't seem aware of the Leafless Tree in the field just north of where he stood, nor did he realize what was bound to happen to them. They had already been chosen and the tree was already planning what was bound to happen to them. Freya bowed down and smiled.  
  
"I was headed off for Alexandria until some tree attempted to kill me." Laughing at this, she turned her glance to Kuja who was now petting the dragon ever so softly. His red, silky hair hung over his eyes and the dragon gave them all a warm feeling of protection. Though, how could something so powerful, not defeat a tree? A simple tree without any leaves? Not just a tree, a whole new world.  
  
"Alexandria! Oh no! I have extremely bad news!" An excited tone of happiness turned to sorrow and anger. " It..it..It has been destroyed over the night!"  
  
Freya gasped once Kuja took his hand away from the dragon and looked rather stunned. Jumping onto the dragon as Freya did before, he yelled out loud. "GET ON!" Never had they seen Kuja so angry, but they did what he said nevertheless. Freya lifted little Vivi up onto the dragon, and then herself. She allowed Vivi to sit in her lap, otherwise it is likely that he would just fall off while gliding about through the moist air. Wings of the dragon flapped galantly up and down, the air hit their faces as it charged through it as fast as it possibly could. Over the trees of the forest they flew over again and on approaching was the field. Amazingly to their site was the tree, nearly twice as big as it was just before. About eight roots were now sprouting from beneath the earth and branches shot up into the air. Closer they got and with each flap of the wings, the darker the area got. It seemed like the sun was disappearing. Was it the sun? Or was it the devil within the tree. A chill rattled up Freya's spine and Vivi's hat was whipped around ferociously by the wind. Again it became darker, and closer they became. Closer, darker, and closer, and yet darker again.   
  
"What the hell is this!?" Kuja screamed as they passed over the tree and everything started to become light again. It must have been that where the tree was directly, was where the center of the darkness was. So many questions, but no time at all to spare. The mountains ahead of them were very close but the darkness came closer. A branch from the tree grabbed onto the ankle of the dragon and tossed them all back torwards the forest. As the three of them were flying through the air, and directly when they came over head the tree, everything turned black except for them, and the tree. Sitting beneath them, staring, glaring, waiting for the group to fall into it's grasp for eternity.   
  
Suddenly, without any warning, the tree grew larger and larger. It took up nearly the rest of the field. It was huge. Still, no leaves, it was just as evil as it was before. They were immobilized in the air, floating there before the tree. In an odd sort of way it seemed actually nice to be before it. Twists of grey filled the area and swirled around the tree and them. Speeding around them making it so nothing else could be seen. Spinning around and around, the strange gusts continued to surround them still until they stopped and the sun's light was shed back onto the area. The sun peered out from behind a cloud in the sky, just like a child afraid of a monster underneath a bed. In the field they all were once again, and the tree was back to it's normal size. The size that Freya first saw it, the size of Vivi. To the North of them were the mountains just as before, and to the south were the forest.   
  
"Huh?" Vivi questioned to no one. All around them seemed nearly the same, the wind, the grass, the mountains and the forest. What was the point of the darkness and the growth of the tree? Freya glanced up as she was looking down to the ground. Placed onto the tree was a card with wonderful markings. The back of the card was the darkest brown imaginable with gold ribbons printed onto each corner. The front of the card had a weird picture placed onto it. The picture seemed to of someone of high power, authority. Perhaps a judge? A king maybe? The sound of a bird came from behind them. The bird. Exactly the same as before, it sat there staring at them. With a hiss it jumped back from them to appear like it was starting a battle. Flew away from Freya the card did and landed directly infront of her in the air. It glistened with silver and silver seemed to be pulled from within it. The silver spirit made it's way away from them and sat itself down and took the shape of a strange bird like creature with a man sitting on top of it.  
  
"HAH!" He shouted. "You have unlocked us once again! The world of Tactia shall be restored!" 


End file.
